Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 764 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to extend protection under the Whistleblowers' Protection Act to employees who report information relating to a condition that poses a danger to public health or safety, unless the employee knows that the report is false.

The Hawaii Nurses' Association testified in support of the measure. Testimony in support of the intent of this measure was submitted by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and the Department of Human Resources Development.

Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii and the Society for Human Resources Management.

Your Committee finds that employees, during the course of their work, may observe violations or suspected violations of the law or situations that may pose a danger to public health or safety. Often, however, employees do not report these alleged violations or situations due to concerns about potential retaliatory discharge, threats, or discriminatory action that may result from their reporting these violations or situations. Therefore, your Committee believes that violations of the laws or situations that may pose a danger to public health or safety go unreported and uncorrected, thus necessitating a revision in the law.

However, your Committee determines that further changes to the law are necessary to account for situations where the aggrieved employee is physically or mentally incapacitated and unable to work. Therefore, your Committee further determines that the statute of limitations should not commence for these incapacitated employees until they are able to return to work.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure as follows:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 764, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 764, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.